Observation device for an electrolytic corrosion test system

ABSTRACT

AN OBERVATION DEVICE FOR AN ELECTROLYTIC CORROSION TEST SYSTEM COMPISING A HOLLOW CYLINDRICAL SUBSTANTIALLY VSHAPED CELL HAVING TWO IDENTICAL HOLLOW CYLINDRICAL PORTIONS INTERCONNECTED AT HTE LOWER ENDS BY A HOLLOW CYLINDRICAL BASE PORTION, ONE OF SAID INTERCONNECTED CYLINDRICAL PORTIONS RECEIVING AND HOLDING AN ELECTRODE ELEMENT IN POSITION THEREIN; AND A RESILIENT ANNULAR GASKET SNUGLY FIT AROUND SAID CYLINDRICAL BASE PORTION AND HAVING A SEAT FOR THE BASE PORTION AND A CENTER ANNULAR BOSS EXTENDING DOWNWARDS FROM THE BODY OF SAID GASKET, SAID BOSS BEING ADAPTED TO ABUT AAINST IN ARTICLE TO BE TESTED SO AS TO PROVIDE A FLUID-TIHT SEAL BETWEEN THE BOTTOM END OF THE BOSS AND THE SURFACE OF THE ARTICLE.

. Jan. 12,1971 I susMu KARIYA 3,554,890

- OBSERVATION DEVICE FOR AN ELECTROLYTIC CORROSION TEST SYSTEM FiledSept. 23, 1968 INVENTOR. SUSUMU KARIYA .4 T TORNE Y5 United StatesPatent US. Cl. 204194 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An observationdevice for an electrolytic corrosion test system comprising a hollowcylindrical substantially V- shaped cell having two identical hollowcylindrical p0r tions interconnected at the lower ends by a hollowcylindrical base portion, one of said interconnected cylindricalportions receiving and holding an electrode element in position therein;and a resilient annular gasket snugly fit around said cylindrical baseportion and having a seat for the base portion and a center annular bossextending downwards from the body of said gasket, said boss beingadapted to abut against an article to be tested so as to provide afluid-tight seal between the bottom end of the boss and the surface ofthe article.

The present invention relates to an observation device for anelectrolytic corrosion test system which is adapted to determine theanti-corrosion properties of the plating metal deposited on an article.

The so-called electrolytic corrosion test procedure has been recentlydeveloped in the United States of America and the procedure is a testprocedure which can determine the anti-corrosion properties of platingsdeposited on articles in a very short period of time. It has beenrecognized that the electrolytic corrosion test procedure can determinethe anti-corrosion properties on a plated article over 400 times fasterthan does the conventional CASS test procedure.

According to the electrolytic corrosion test procedure, a specimen to beexamined such as a plated article is soaked into a bath of suitableelectrolyte and the plating metal deposited on the specimen iselectrolysed by the DC. electrolysis under a predetermined positivepotential using the specimen as the anode. When the electrolysis hasprogressed to the degree that the base metal of the specimen be exposed,the indicator contained in the electrolyte reacts with the iron of thebase metal to develop a color on the base metal. The time which haselapsed until the color developed on the base metal is utilized as themeasurement for determining the anti-corrosion properties of the platingmetal deposited on the specimen.

However, when an electrolytic corrosion test is carried out inaccordance with the above-mentioned procedure,

the entire area of the base metal of the specimen is not exposed at onetime, but the area or areas lying underneath a fine defect or defectspresent in the plating metal are first exposed and therefore, it isnecessary to observe a faint color developing at such a defect area orareas by lighting up the specimen on one side from below and side.

When the above-mentioned electrolytic corrosion test is performed on aplated article having a relatively small size, such an article is soakedinto the electrolytic bath contained in a transparent electrolyte tankand observed through the tank by lighting up the same on the sides andbottom thereof whereby any color developed area or areas on the articlecan be examined.

However, if the procedure is performed on a plated article which has arelatively large size such as the bumper of an automobile, the entirearea of the article cannot be exposed at one time and therefore, inpractice, it is necessary to cut a small specimen piece off the largeplated article and then to perform the above procedure on the smallspecimen. However, it is obvious that preparation of such a specimen istime-consuming and requires a rather complicated step.

The object of the present invention is to provide an observation devicefor an electrolytic corrosion test system which can be suitably employedfor determining the anti-corrosion properties of the plating metaldeposited on an article having a relatively large size as well as thaton an article having a relatively small size.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an observationdevice for an electrolytic corrosion test system which is simpler inconstruction and operation.

According to the present invention, there is provided an observationdevice for an electrolytic corrosion test system which comprises ahollow cylindrical V-shaped cell having two cylindrical arm portionsinterconnected at the lower ends by a hollow cylindrical base portion,one of said hollow cylindrical arm portions receiving and holding acathode in position near the upper end; an annular gasket snugly fitaround said base cylindrical portion; and a light source disposed aboveand in axial alignment with either one of said cell arm portions.

The above and other objects and attendant advantages of the presentinvention will be more apparent to those skilled in the art from areading of the following detailed description of a preferred embodimentthereof in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

The drawing is a vertical section view of a preferred form ofobservation device for an electrolytic corrosion test system constructedin accordance with the present invention.

The present invention will be now described referring to the sole figureof the accompanying drawing in which a preferred form of observationdevice for an electrolytic corrosion test system according to thepresent invention is shown in a vertical section. The observation devicegenerally comprises a hollow substantially V-shaped cell 1 having twoidentical hollow cylindrical portions 2 and 3 which are interconnectedat the open lower ends by a hollow cylindrical base portion 4. Thecylindrical portion 2 is provided with a cylindrical recess 2 in theinner periphery covering a certain distance from the open upper endthereof and a hollow cylindrical cathode 5 is received and held in therecess by any suitable manner. An annular gasket 6 formed of soft andresilient material such as rubber is snugly fit around the base portion4 and the gasket has a hollow cylindrical center boss 6' extendingvertically and downwards and having substantially the same diameter asthat of the cell base portion 4. The annular gasket 6 is furtherprovided with an annular recess 6" in the inner periphery extending fromthe upper edge down to a substantially midpoint of the height orthickness of the gasket and the recess has substantially the samediameter as that of the cell base portion 4 for snugly receivingsubstantially the entire base portion therein. The hollow cylindricalcenter boss 6' of the gasket 6 serves as a packing when the observationdevice is operated for its intended purpose as will become more clearhereinbelow.

In operation, a specimen to be tested such as a plated article 7 ishorizontally placed on a suitable flat support means (not shown) withthe plated side 8 (which is to be tested) disposed top and then theabove-mentioned cell 1 is placed on the plated article 7 with the bottomend of the gasket center boss 6' seating on the article. Then, the cell1 is pressed down and held in the pressed position by a suitable meanssuch as a spring (not shown) so as to cause the bottom end of the gasketboss 6 to positively abut against the plated article side 8 whereby theboss may serve as a packing to provide a fluid-tight seal between thearticle side and the boss lower end for prevention of leakage ofelectrolyte to be received in the cell 1. Thereafter, electrolyte 9 ispoured into the cell 1 to a predetermined level therein. The systemincluding the cell 1 and plated article 8 is connected to a suitable DC.power source (not shown) and in such a case, the cylindrical element 5serves as the cathode while the plated article 8 serves as the anode.

In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a light source which may bepositioned outwardly of and in axial alignment with either one of thetwo hollow cylindrical portions 2 and 3 and the light source is adaptedto direct a ray of light upon the upper side 8 of the plated article 7.In the illustrated embodiment, the light source 11 is disposed outwardlyof and in axial alignment with the cylindrical portion 2 and the litside 8 of the plated article 7 is observed from a suitable pointoutwardly of and in axial alignment with the other cylindrical portion 3through the portion. With the above arrangement, any finecolor-developed spot on the plated article side 8 can be clearlyobserved.

When an electrolytic corrosion test operation is performed byincorporating the above-mentioned observation device into any prior artelectrolytic corrosion test system, such a test can be selectivelyeffected on any limited small area of a plated article having arelatively large size without the necessity for cutting a small sectionincluding such an area to be tested off the large article.

It wil be understood that various modifications and variations on theembodiment of the invention as disclosed and illustrated herein may beresorted to without departing from the scope of the concept of thepresent invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should belimited only to the scope and proper interpretation of the claimsappended hereto.

Having thus described certain forms of the invention in some detail,what is claimed is:

1. An observation device for an electrolytic corrosion test system whichcomprises a hollow, substantially V- shaped body, said hollow bodyincluding two arm portions interconnected at their lower ends by asubstantially vertical base portion, one of said arm portions includingcathode reception means near its upper end, cathode means within saidcathode reception means, and a light source disposed above and in axialalignment with one of said arm portions.

2. The invention as claimed in claim 1 further including means for saidbase portion adapted to snugly fit about said base to provide a fluidseal between the periphery of said base and the surface upon which saidbase rests.

3. The invention as claimed in claim 1 wherein the periphery of saidbody portion is substantially cylindrical.

4. The invention as claimed in claim 3 further including a substantiallyannular gasket adapted to snugly fit about said base portion.

5. An observation device for an electrolytic corrosion test system asclaimed in claim 4 in which said annular gasket is formed of a resilientmaterial and has an annular recess formed in the inner peripheryextending from the upper end to a substantially midpoint of the heightor thickness of the gasket and a center boss extending downwards fromthe lower edge of the gasket for abutting against the upper surface of aspecimen the anticorrosion properties of which are to be examined.

6. An observation device for an electrolytic corrosion test system asclaimed in claim 5 in which said annular recess has substantially thesame diameter as that of said cell hollow base portion for providing theseat for the base portion and said center boss is adapted to provide afluid-tight seal when the boss is abutted against said upper surface ofthe specimen.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,135,873 11/1938 Jones et al.204224 2,457,234 12/1948 Herbert et al 204224X 2,608,530 8/1952 Kahn204-224X 2,868,705 1/1959 Baier et al 204224X JOHN H. MACK, PrimaryExaminer D. R. VALENTINE, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 204195, 224

